Friedman on Bush and the UN. It seems lazy and obvious to point out that Tom Friedman has a brilliant column in this morning's New York Times, but guess what? He does. Friedman puts his finger on precisely why the UN Security Council's unanimous vote to force Saddam Hussein to comply with weapons inspections is such a hopeful development. Writes Friedman:

It was the first time since then [9/11] that the world community seemed to be ready to overcome all of its cultural, religious and strategic differences to impose a global norm -- that a country that raped its neighbor and defied U.N. demands that it give up its weapons of mass destruction not be allowed to get away with it.

And Friedman gives George W. Bush just the right amount of credit for standing up not only to Saddam, but to the "superhawks" in his own administration who tried to convince him that real men don't ask the UN for anything.

Obviously a lot could still go wrong, and with a Republican Senate, I worry that Bush will be more inclined to listen to warmongers such as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz than Colin Powell. But this has been a good week for anyone who supports both peace and a vigorous, UN-backed effort to force Saddam to give up his weapons.